BUFFALO, N.Y. (April 6, 2004) - — The Research Center for Stroke & Heart Disease (RCSHD) in cooperation with the Pursuing Perfection Collaborative of Western New York (P2) will sponsor the training of 50 health ministry teams from faith communities within the eight-county region of Western New York over the next 12 months.

Once established, the health ministry teams will work to address our region's high rates of stroke and heart disease from within their congregations. Priority will be given to those faith communities of either high-risk demographics (primarily elderly members) or lower socioeconomic status. The teams will attend training sessions, complete a community health and wellness assessment and execute a health intervention program in their faith community. Through this intensive training, and with spiritual support from their pastors, the teams will be better equipped to confront the health demands of their congregations.

The Faith and Health Ministry project plans to utilize the many Parish Nurses in Western New York already affiliated with faith communities. Parish Nurses are Registered Nurses who have successfully completed the Basic Parish Nurse Preparation Program. Their training emphasizes wholeness of body, mind and spirit and they bring a specific skill set of medical expertise blended with a spiritual mindset. A Parish Nurse will be linked to each health ministry team as a resource to help when needs arise.

There is no cost to the faith community for the training of a four-person team. Team members will be asked to sign a Promise Contract, which states that the team will attend all workshops (three workshops, two hours each in 2004, two meetings in 2005) and one overnight retreat. In addition, the team will be expected to implement monthly blood pressure checks in their faith community and the "Take a Loved One to the Doctor" initiative by the end of next year.

More than ever, health care practitioners have come to believe more in the importance of wholistic health, which encompasses body, mind and spirit. With this in mind, the Center has conducted several faith-based health initiatives over the past several years. Moving in Faith 2003, a six-month physical activity and healthy nutrition program, involved 14 WNY churches and more than 600 members. Preliminary data shows that:

• Nearly 60% of participants lost inches around their waist (average 2.08 inches) and nearly 50% of participants (208/428) lost weight (average 7.05 pounds).
  
  
• Nearly 10% of participants lost enough weight from beginning to end of the program to take their body mass index (a calculation involving the ratio of weight to height) down a full classification. For example, they moved from obese to overweight or overweight to normal.
  
  
• And even though the program focused on physical activity, noteworthy results were achieved in reduction of high blood pressure. Twenty-five percent of participants had high blood pressure at the first screening. Nearly 38% of individuals with systolic blood pressure (the top number) greater than 130 at the beginning of the program successfully reduced their blood pressure to below 130 by the end of the program. Nearly 54% of participants with diastolic blood pressure (the second or bottom number) greater than 85 reduced this number to below 85 by the end of the program.